Finse is a railway station situated on the highest pass between Bergen and Oslo at 1222m. The line between Bergen and Oslo wasn't completed till 1909 in a difficult terrain with about 100km in the alpine zone. The highest point is at 1237m.
Now it is hotels and other lodges here and also a research station. A small trail used by cyclists follow the railway. It is very popular and much visited by all kind of people, also families with children.
I was at my sister's near Ely, Minnesota and 7 miles south of Canada.
Nothing that special, but pretty typical for the area:
Much of the habitat is basalt outcrops, sometimes with a complete canopy, sometimes not. Somehow this White pine escaped the clear cut logging that swept through the area about 90 years ago.
Hello,
There are still (few)places available on our 14 day autumn flowering bulbs tour
to the south Peloponnese and Mani peninsula, Greece. Dates: 24 October--06 November 2012.
Click here for all details.
Regards, Klaas.
This post is by way of thanking Todd Boland for mentioning an excellent place to find orchids near Seebe, Alberta (he was speaking at a CRAGS meeting here in Calgary). We visited it again yesterday and found 7 species of orchids plus numerous other wildflowers. I'll try to attach some photos.
Linda Vaxvick
Beautiful Beausoleil Island is part of Georgian Bay National Park. This rocky outcrop of the Canadian Shield contains some rare flowers, the endangered, shy but deadly if it bites, Massasauga Rattle Snake. The windblown pines and spectacular scenery here are reminiscent of the paintings of the Group of Seven.
Fran
I had the pleasure of a geology field trip to Utah last week and thought you might enjoy seeing some of the wonderful plants and desert mountain scenery from the various sites we stopped at.
Scenery near the old coal-mining town of Helper, SE of Salt Lake City:
Hastings Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) is within the city of Hastings near the west side of the Mississippi River. The part that I like consists of a small exposed limestone “escarpment” about a quarter mile long. The area is home to a dense assortment of spring ephemerals and includes the Snow trillium (Trillium nivale) that is rare in Minnesota.
I arrived a bit before sunset. Had I had a film camera, it would have been of no use. But even digital photography has its limitations, so the photos here are not all that clear.
When I lived in Toronto, 1997 until 2007, I enjoyed cycling in some of the city's extensive green spaces- along the lakeshore, river valleys etc; One of the more unique areas was the Leslie Spit- Tommy Thompson Park as its officially known.
Originally started as a man-made breakwater to protect Toronto Harbour in Lake Ontario, as that function became less relevant, it became an accidental wild area, then a managed conservation area..
Although organising tours in Greece takes most of our time, we also try to find some new
species we did not see before.
Last year our focus was on finding Omphalodes runemarkii and Paeonia mascula ssp hellenica.
Omphalodes runemarkii was described as a new species quite recent, in 2005 by well known
botanists Arne Strid and Kit Tan from Denmark.
O.runemarkii grows in the southern parts of the Parnon(as) mountain range in the south east of
the Peloponnese peninsula. Being cultivated at the Göteborg botanical garden first, its now also
